


Say it with Soup

by LadyAJ_13



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Although more like food as a metaphor for friendship, Caretaking, Cooking, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Gen, Not sure where this sits in the timeline, Protective Oliver Queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAJ_13/pseuds/LadyAJ_13
Summary: Familiar lightning crackles to a stop. “All taken care of Arrow! Wait - where did everybody go?”“Home, Barry. Speaking of which - you come with me.”
Relationships: Barry Allen & Oliver Queen
Kudos: 32





	Say it with Soup

**Author's Note:**

> First outing in this fandom! I'm only just starting season 2 of Arrow but I'm on s4 of Flash and have picked up bits and pieces from fanfic - however, this isn't rooted in any particular time.

By the time Barry flashes the latest big bad off to Iron Heights, Oliver’s exhausted. It’s been a long fight - teleporters give even the Flash and the Arrow a run for their money - but a  _ good _ one, his muscles aching pleasantly and no injuries more substantial than the odd blooming bruise.

He sends the rest of the team back to the Foundry, and turns off his comms. He won’t unstring his bow until he’s off the streets, but he watches everyone disperse, whole and happy, and feels something in him relax.

Familiar lightning crackles to a stop.

“All taken care of Arrow! Wait - where did everybody go?”

“Home, Barry. Speaking of which - you come with me.” He grips Barry by the shoulder to twist him in the right direction, and for once, the speedster complies, although he pulls away when they get to Oliver’s bike.

“I can get back faster than-”

“You’re not going back to the Foundry, you’re coming to mine.” If he could bottle the surprise on Barry’s face, he thinks, he’d make his millions back in the practical joke industry. “Debrief,” he adds. 

“Oh cool, well - I uh, already know where you live. Felicity, you know. And Cisco. Nothing’s private. I mean! Yes, I’ll meet you there, I just gotta stop off on the way-”

He lets the rambling pass unacknowledged. “You got one of those snack bar things?”

“No, there are no pockets in-”

He pulls one from his own jacket and chucks it at Barry, who even with super speed manages to fumble the catch. “Get Ramon to add a pocket, what if you’d got stuck somewhere? And eat that.”

“Ollie, no, I'll just grab something - they taste like garbage.”

He stares Barry down. “You tell Ramon that?”

Barry scoffs, and opens the wrapper instead of answering.

“You should, maybe he’d add cocoa or something.”

Barry raises an eyebrow, and Oliver raises his right back. 

“Just get on the bike. Live life in the slow lane for ten minutes.”

\--

They get back to his apartment, and there’s something strange about seeing the Flash in the space he tries to keep - as far as possible - Arrow free. It’s better when he finally removes the cowl, and better still when he takes Oliver up on his offer to change into sweats and a t-shirt. Oliver leaves him to get changed, and roots around the fridge, absolutely confident that if he so desired Barry could have sped through every private drawer and personal item in the apartment in the ten seconds he takes to walk back out of the bedroom.

Luckily, Barry isn’t as suspicious - or as nosy - as he perhaps should be.

“So. Debrief?”

Oliver nods, unearthing green onions, mushrooms, carrots, spinach, chilis and ginger from the crisper. “Chop,” he says, pushing a board, knife, and the vegetables over to Barry. 

He’s slow to take the knife, like this might be some new test where the knife is rigged to explode. Oliver turns and sets a pan on to heat. When he turns back, Barry is just blurring to stop with a neat pile of finely chopped vegetables. 

“It went well,” Oliver continues, taking and lightly frying the vegetables and dissolving a few stock cubes in some boiling water with the aromatics. He adds a few other things he has lying around - soy sauce, fish sauce, some pepper, some chilli flakes. “You’re getting better at scouting beforehand. Roy said you sped past him on the roof.”

“I’d have stopped for a chat, but time was of the essence,” Barry jokes. There’s nothing but the soft sizzle of hot oil for a minute and then, “is that it? Because when you said debrief, I figured I’d done something wrong. Or that you were going to stick another arrow in me as soon as my guard was down. Not that... you were going to… cook me dinner?”

Oliver shrugs, and ladles the broth out into bowls. 

“All I’ve ever seen you eat is Big Belly burgers and those snack bars.” He thunks a bowl down in front of Barry. “You might not be able to get fat, but at this point I’m worried about scurvy.” He nudges the noodles and platter of thin-cut vegetables, then grabs some herbs from the fridge as well. “Eat something with a vitamin. There are more noodles in the cupboard if you still need filling up.”

It’s the worst meal for company, he thinks, but Barry literally hoovers it all up in around a minute flat, and watching him create a vertical whirlpool of broth is quite the sight. It makes him less self conscious about any splatters he might make, anyway.

“Anything for dessert?” grins Barry. “Or… I know this great cheesecake place. I could be there and back in-” he snaps his fingers. “Please? I ate all my vegetables.”

“You ate all my vegetables too,” Oliver grumbles. 

“I’ll get your favourite. Uh, if you tell me what that is.”

“Felicity hasn’t revealed all then?”

“Eh,” Barry shrugs, and for a second lightning sparks around him, then he's back in the Flash suit. “I could swing by and ask her. Or maybe I’ll just get one of each.”

He’s gone almost before he finishes speaking. Oliver figures he’s got a minute at most to finish his broth before dessert arrives, so abandons the spoon and drinks direct from the bowl. 

Hopefully Barry thinks to pick up a banoffee slice.


End file.
